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Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine was up for appearing in just white boxer shorts for the liner notes of his band's '80s-influenced sophomore album, It Won't Be Soon Before Long.

"I wanted to do something intimate and close and personal," Levine said this week, leading up to the L.A. group's appearance on the the MuchMusic Video Awards tomorrow night where they'll perform their new hit single, Makes Me Wonder.

"And I'm a bit of an exhibitionist so, yeah, it was my idea. I like to be naked in front of a camera, that's kind of the definition, isn't it? I cook up those silly ideas. I'm exploiting myself."

Levine, 28, has become somewhat of a sex symbol since Maroon 5 took off with their 2002 debut, Songs About Jane.

The debut record sold ten million copies worldwide, spawned such hits as This Love and She Will Be Loved, and saw the endlessly touring group -- whose original drummer Ryan Dusick's right-arm injuries led to him being permanently replaced by Matt Flynn -- win two Grammys, including best new artist in 2005.

Levine, who is dating L.A. cocktail waitress Rebecca Ginos, doesn't have a problem with being labeled cheesecake for his female fans.

"It's really funny and flattering and our music is sexual, it's just part of the package," he said. "I think good bands always have someone in front, so I'm cool with it. I think that was always the goal, to have a strong presence as a frontman and a lot of the time that involves being considered a sex symbol."

On the new disc, their most overtly sexual song is called Kiwi, on which Rashida Jones (The Office) does some guest vocals. (A friend of Levine's, she also appeared on Maroon 5's first record.)

"Kiwi was pure, raw, sexual desire," said Levine. "And at the time I wrote that song, I was just being really honest in how I felt so I was just being as sincere as possible. And I really wanted to be close and intimate with this person and I wanted to be in bed with her."

Levine has been linked to such Hollywood scenesters as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson.

Naturally then, Levine had to have an opinion about the out-of-control media coverage regarding Hilton in jail and Lohan back in rehab.

"I think the public has always famously been interested in being distracted -- that reality is not nearly as appealing as distraction," said Levine. "I'm so disinterested with it. People just need to realize that they're just people with problems, they're not any more special than you or me, or anybody. There are far bigger problems to focus on in the world than this nonsense."

So does Levine have any sympathy for what Hilton and Lohan going through?

"I think that this all came from them wanting (celebrity) so badly and doing anything to obtain it, so no, not really."